had reached an impasse, and it was decided to merge the two companies "by a legal act of union dated 7 thermidor an IX (26 July 1801)". The new corporation was to use the old name Opéra-Comique but perform at the newer theatre on the rue Feydeau. The merged company's first performance there was a program consisting of Étienne Méhul's Stratonice and Cherubini's Les deux journées which took place on 16 September 1801. It was in 1801 that Blasius first lost his position as conductor of the Opéra-Comique orchestra. During his time with that company Blasius had performed and conducted works by Nicolas Dalayrac, André Grétry, and Étienne Méhul, all of whom had praised his conducting skills. Other work Blasius next worked at other Parisian theaters, first at the Théâtre de la Cité, where in November 1801 he conducted the first Parisian performance in German of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, with the German company of Elmenreich. Two of his own compositions, the mélodrames Adelson et Salvini and Don Pèdre et Zulika, were first performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1802. Later he worked at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, where his Clodomire, ou La Prêtresse d'Irmunsul a three-act mélodrame was first performed on 5 May 1803. In 1795 Blasius received an appointment as professor of violin at the newly founded Paris Conservatoire. He also held other official positions at various times during the Revolution and the Directory. He was a member and director of the National Guard Band from 1793 to 1795, and in 1799 became a conductor of the bands of the Garde Consulaire. In 1802 Blasius lost his professorship at the Conservatoire, and in 1804 he lost his position at the Garde Consulaire, but became director of the Grenadiers de la Garde de Napoléon I. Later during the reign of Louis XVIII he became director of the fifth regiment band of the Imperial Guard, and a member of the king's private orchestra. In 1816 (or 1818) he retired and went to Versailles, where he died in 1829. Works Blasius wrote a number of works for the stage as well as instrumental pieces for Harmonie (small wind ensemble), concertos with orchestra, and chamber music with a particular emphasis on works for violin, clarinet, and bassoon. He also wrote pedagogical works for clarinet (see next) and bassoon. According to the music historian Deanne Arkus Klein,